4. Creative techniques for new ideas

The first idea that comes to mind is usually also the idea your competitor had. That is no coincidence: you read the same trade journals, you write for the same market, and under time pressure your mind reaches for whatever is closest to hand. Anyone writing texts that stand out therefore needs a working method that goes beyond that first reflex. Not because inspiration doesn't exist, but because you can't wait for it at half past three on a Thursday afternoon.

Broad first, then sharp

Diverging is opening up your thinking. You collect as many possibilities as you can without judging a single one of them. Quantity is the only goal at that stage, because a long list simply contains more usable material than a short one. Converging is the opposite: you weigh up, cut, combine and choose. That is where judgment does belong.

The mistake most writers make is doing both at the same time. You come up with a headline, immediately hear "the director won't like that" in your head, and the idea is dead before it reaches the page. Judgement is a brake, and with the brake on you don't get far enough to come across anything new. That is why you separate the two movements in time: first ten minutes of nothing but producing, and only then selecting.

The double diamond

You don't make those two movements once, but twice. In the first diamond you work on the question, in the second on the idea.

You start with exploring the question. You note down everything the brief could possibly be about. Is this job advert about finding a mechanic, about the company's image, about the number of applicants, or in fact about the kind of applicants you want to put off? Then comes fixing the writing question: you choose one formulation and set it alongside your writing goal and your reader. Everything that follows serves that one question. The waist of the diamond is the moment you stop doubting the assignment.

Then you open up again, now at idea level: exploring the angles. You collect images, openings, headlines, comparisons, formats and absurd variants. Everything goes on the list. And finally choosing what to develop: you hold your harvest up against a few criteria and end up with one direction. Only then do you start on your first version.

The gain lies mainly in that first step. Many texts fail not because the idea was weak, but because the question was wrongly framed. Half an hour at the front end saves three rounds of rewriting at the back end.

Four ground rules for a divergence round

Deferring judgment. During the round there is no such thing as a bad idea, not out loud, not in your head and not with a dash in the margin. Judging comes later.

Quantity over quality. You agree on a number and a time limit. Twenty headlines in ten minutes works better than "let's brainstorm a bit". The first seven are clichés, the last five are interesting, and that is precisely why you must not stop at seven.

Room for the odd. Ideas that can't be done are allowed on the list. An unworkable idea is often the outside of a workable one. You tame it later.

Building on instead of tearing down. With every idea you ask what else could go alongside it. If you're working with a few colleagues, "yes, and ..." is the only permitted response.

Converging with criteria

Selecting on gut feeling almost always ends with the safest idea, because that one feels the most familiar. Four questions keep you sharp. Does it fit your core message? A brilliant idea that leaves a different thought behind than you intended is a brilliant idea for another text. Does it fit the stage your reader is in? A humorous angle does not work for someone who is about to decide and is waiting for proof. Can it work in this channel? An idea that needs four hundred words will not fit into an eight-word banner. And is it surprising? If your competitor could have arrived at this too, there is probably something better still on your list.

SCAMPER

Free association works, but it grinds to a halt as soon as your head is empty. SCAMPER solves that by force: seven fixed thinking moves that you apply to your subject, even when you are not feeling anything. The technique comes from product development, and works just as well on a heading, an opening sentence or a complete offer.

Substituting. You take out one element and put something else in its place: the subject of your sentence, the place where your scene is set, or the person speaking. "Our writing course" becomes "the Friday afternoon when your quote has to be finished".

Combine. You stick together two things that normally stand apart: a client case plus a calculation, a vacancy plus a day from the logbook, two channels that refer to each other.

Adapt. You borrow a form that already works elsewhere. How would a sports commentator present this? What does a package insert look like, a menu, a weather forecast? The form drags along a tone you would not have come up with yourself.

Magnify or minify. You play with scale. You make the number bigger, "per year" instead of "per month", or make it smaller and closer, "every Wednesday morning". You stretch your promise until it is almost unbelievable and see what remains once you scale back.

Put to another use. You place your text or your offer in a situation it was never meant for. Who else uses your product? Where else would this paragraph come in handy, in a sales conversation or on a trade fair stand?

Eliminate. You cut something essential and see whether it really was essential. The company name in the first paragraph goes. The introduction goes. All the adjectives go.

Reverse. You turn the order on its head or claim the opposite. You start at the result and work backwards. Or you write the heading "Why you would be better off not taking this course" and notice how sharp you suddenly become.

Distorting your text

The techniques above help you generate ideas. Distortion techniques do something else: you reach for those when a text already exists and that text is tame. You force your existing sentences into a shape that does not fit, and it is precisely that friction that shakes loose formulations you would never have written down in polite writing. You always distort a copy, never your original, because you want to be able to demolish it without hesitation.

Shortening in steps. You take a paragraph of a hundred words and cut it back to forty. Then to fifteen, and finally to six. At every step you have to choose what really matters. That six-word version is rarely your final text, but it often is your heading.

Stretching. The opposite. You take one sentence, for example "our service is fast", and turn it into ten lines with a time, a name and a place in them. Stretching forces you to show instead of claim, because vagueness cannot sustain ten lines.

Reverse. You write the text from the opposite point of view. What would a dissatisfied customer say? What does your reader's week look like if he does nothing? The negative version almost always yields more concrete details than the positive one, and you move those details back across.

Switching voice or channel. You rewrite the same content as a text message to a friend, as a ten-second radio spot, or in your customer's own words. The tone that comes out of it is looser than your normal business voice.

What you are left with is usually not a complete text, but a handful of sentences that stand out from the rest. Those sentences move across to your real version. The distorted versions you throw away, and that sometimes takes effort, because by now you have grown attached to them.

Summary

• Diverging is collecting without judgment, converging is weighing up and choosing. You never do them at the same time, because judgment acts as a brake.
• The double diamond puts those two movements one after the other twice: first on the question, then on the idea.
• Many texts fail not on a weak idea but on a wrongly framed question. Half an hour at the front end saves three rounds of rewriting.
• Four ground rules for diverging: defer judgement, quantity over quality, room for the odd, and build on rather than tear down.
• Converge on four questions: does it fit your core message, does it fit the stage your reader is at, does it fit this channel, and does it surprise?
• SCAMPER offers seven thinking moves: substituting, combining, adapting, magnifying or minifying, putting to other uses, eliminating and reversing.
• You apply distortion techniques to an existing, tame text: shortening, stretching, reversing and switching voice. Always on a copy, always with a timer. The result is raw material, not a finished text.